Canadian navy to destroy 11,000 Second World Battle period pistols

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The Canadian navy plans to destroy 11,000 of its Second World Battle-era pistols by the tip of this yr.

The transfer comes because the Canadian Forces confirmed it has acquired the ultimate deliveries of a brand new 9-mm pistol as a part of a $19.4-million challenge.

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The navy bought the Sig Sauer P320, which is being distributed to models. It replaces the Browning Hello-Energy pistol that has been utilized by the Canadian Forces for many years.

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Nationwide Defence spokesperson Cheryl Forrest mentioned all navy models would ship their Browning handguns to Canadian Forces provide depots in Quebec and Alberta for disposal.

“The pistols haven’t but been destroyed,” she mentioned in an e mail. “We anticipate the pistols can be disposed of by the tip of 2024.”

Forrest mentioned roughly 150 Browning Hello-Energy handguns can be saved for museums, however at this level none had been distributed to these organizations.

As well as, the Canadian Military is figuring out if a small quantity of the Brownings ought to be saved for particular functions or particular coaching, she added.

“The Canadian Military retains a small inventory of older small arms and small arms in service in different nations to help with coaching for emergency conditions and for recognition,” Forrest mentioned. “The Browning may retain some coaching worth as a simulation/coaching software.”

However no remaining choice on that has been made, she added.

Greater than one million Browning Hello-Energy pistols have been manufactured because the Second World Battle and the gun has been utilized by dozens of militaries and police forces.

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The Canadian Forces beforehand eliminated one other group of older weapons from its stock when it supplied fashionable rifles to the Canadian Rangers. That group had been utilizing Lee Enfield rifles additionally from the Second World Battle period.

Round 9,500 Lee Enfields have been transferred to navy cadets, principally as non-functional rifles, to be used in drills or coaching. Roughly 5,000 of the rifles have been gifted to serving Canadian Rangers.

One other 50 rifles have been supplied to museums affiliated with the Canadian Forces or navy models as show artifacts, Nationwide Defence mentioned.

After that, round 1,500 Lee Enfields remained they usually have been destroyed because the navy dominated out sale of the excess rifles to most of the people.

The Canadian Forces introduced it had acquired the ultimate deliveries of the brand new P320s on March 6. The supply concerned 16,500 of what are being known as C22 pistols. These are being utilized by the military, navy and air drive.

One other 3,200 new pistols, to be known as the C24, have been despatched to navy police models.

The federal authorities introduced the awarding of the Sig Sauer P320 contract in October 2022. It was awarded to M.D. Charlton Co. Ltd. of Victoria, B.C.

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The Sig Sauer P320 is in use with a number of militaries world wide together with Denmark, France, and america. The Pentagon chosen the P320 in 2017 and Sig Sauer is offering the U.S. navy with 420,000 of these weapons.

The Canadian navy had been making an attempt for years to exchange its Browning Hello-Energy pistols because it was operating out of components for the weapons.

The acquisition challenge was stalled for years after small arms companies rejected in 2011 the federal authorities requirement that the brand new weapons be constructed at Colt Canada in Kitchener, Ont. As well as, the businesses balked at a stipulation that they needed to flip over proprietary firearms data to Colt, a agency some noticed as a competitor.

David Pugliese is an award-winning journalist overlaying Canadian Forces and navy points in Canada. To assist his work, together with unique content material for subscribers solely, enroll right here: ottawacitizen.com/subscribe

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